Snowfall
by InMemoriam
Summary: In my entire lifetime, I’ve only seen three perfect snowfalls. I never want to see another one. Disclaimer: None of it's mine except the twisted plot and a few OCs.
1. Snowfall

_In my entire lifetime, I've only seen three perfect snowfalls. They were serene, and beautiful, falling gently through the air and landing on the ground to form a white blanket of snow._

_The only joy in a sea of pain and hurt._

_I'm twenty three now and I've lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico my entire life. I'm a well adjusted young man, with a great job that I love, a wife and three kids-one girl and two boys._

_It took me a long time to get here. It took everyone a long time to get here. And not all of us got to this point in time. Some of us just...stopped. Gave up where we stood._

_And that's where the snowfall comes in._

_My name is Ryan Evans and in my entire lifetime, I've only seen three perfect snowfalls._

_I never want to see another one._

_The first snowfall was at my grandfather's funeral, when I was eight. Sharpay was still seven until the next day and she didn't understand why everybody was standing around a big box crying. It was just a box, right? And Grandpa was just sleeping, so when he woke up everything would be fine, right? He'd open his eyes and crack a joke about how freaking __**ugly**__ that box was and everyone would laugh and it would all be all right._

_My heart still breaks every time I remember that day, and her words echo, bouncing around in my head._

"_Why is Grandpa sleeping in the ground?"_

_The second snowfall is where this story begins and where life before ends. Actually, it begins a few days before the snowfall and I'd begun to wonder why it was so cold lately but I just brushed it off as it being December in Albuquerque._

_Silly me._

_Anyways, about two weeks before the second snowfall, my best friend and her boyfriend had gotten in a fight about something stupid and he was driving her home in his truck despite it all._

_Troy Bolton always was a gentleman, even if he didn't really like the person he was around. And Gabriella? Well, he liked her. A lot._

_Anyways, Troy was driving Gabriella home and he'd just passed into the middle of an intersection when Troy's truck was broadsided on the passenger side._

_And that's when the air got cold..._

A/N: A complete track list and link to a fanmix for this story will be provided at the end of the story.


	2. Like a Knife

_Goodbyes are meant for lonely people_

_Standing in the rain_

_But no matter where I go_

_It's always pouring all the same_

Like a Knife, Secondhand Serenade

Ryan managed to make it to the emergency room in record time, probably breaking every speed limit set down in history in the process, when Gabriella called him and wouldn't tell him why she was there in the first place.

As he crossed the threshold of the ER he was almost taken out by a passing stretcher and he spilled Sharpay's hot chocolate that he'd grabbed from her hand as he tore from the house. If Gabi was at the hospital she'd probably need it.

Not many people knew that Gabi was diabetic-hell, _Troy_, didn't know and he was her boyfriend-and had been since she was twelve. If her sugar got too low, she'd crash and collapse in a heap where she stood.

As it was, Ryan being her best friend and all, he and(by default) Sharpay were the only ones who knew about Gabi. That's why her mother's brownies were so spectacular when it came to taste-Bridget had somehow managed to make sugar substitute brownies and fool everyone into thinking they were real.

So, as Ryan stood there in the ER, a million thoughts were running through his mind, mainly that Gabi had had an episode and the ER, unable to reach her mother(who was on a week-long business trip in Florida), had contacted the next emergency contact on Gabi's card, which was Ryan.

More on that later.

Finally, Ryan spotted a head of curly, brown hair and made his way across the waiting room to Gabi's side.

"Gabi?" he asked gently, trying not to startle her but she jumped anyway as he reached out to touch her shoulder. "Gabs, you all right? Did you have an episode again?"

"Troy and I got in a fight."

Something clicked in Ryan's mind and he furthered his questioning.

"Did you tell Troy about your diabetes? And I'm guessing he had a bad reaction, right?"

"Troy and I got in a fight." Gabi said, not really focusing on his questions as her eyes stared straight ahead. "It's all my fault."

"Gabi, what are you talk-"

"Mr. Evans?"

Ryan glanced up to see a doctor standing over Gabi and him with a stoic look on his face. His face had sort of a pinched look that went well with the glasses adorning his nose but not with the tee shirt and jeans beneath his coat.

"Can I help you, sir?"

"You're Mr. Evans, young man?" the doctor asked in confusion, adjusting his glasses as he fumbled with the file in his hands. "Ryan Evans?"

"I'm eighteen, Doctor...uh..." Ryan trailed off when he realized that this guy hadn't actually introduced himself.

"Tannon. Doctor Michael Tannon, son." he replied, closing the file and holding out a hand, which Ryan grabbed and shook quickly. "Now, as I couldn't reach Ms. Montez's mother-"

"She's in Florida for the week-unreachable at the moment."

"As I was saying, since I couldn't reach her, you were next on the list."

"What happened to my friend, doctor?" Ryan asked, eyes flicking uncertainly between Gabi's still form and her doctor.

"Mr. Evans-"

"Ryan."

"Ryan, Gabriella was in a car accident earlier-about an hour and a half ago, give or take-and the oncoming car broadsided the truck she was in on the passenger side, where she was at the time."

Ryan's head spun back to Gabi to scan her form for any major injuries and found none in particular that were really worth mentioning. True, she had a nasty looking gash on her fore head and her knuckles were scratched up but other than that he couldn't tell.

"But, why isn't she-'

"Troy and I had a fight, Ryan." Gabi said suddenly, gripping Ryan's shirt and he saw the bandage beneath where the blanket she'd been curled under slipped away. "It's all my fault."

"Gabi, honey, it's not your fault." Ryan soothed, wrapping Gabi into his arms as she burst into tears. "What happened? Shouldn't she be more, I don't know..._injured_, or something?"

"That's the part we don't understand exactly...Ms. Montez here, came away with only a few bumps and scrapes after being broadsided while her driver is currently in intensive surgery for multiple fractures, hemorrhaging and a collapsed lung."

Ryan blinked in surprise and almost didn't catch Gabi as she slid from her chair to the floor, still sobbing.

"Please, Ryan, make him okay..."

"Doctor?" Ryan questioned from the floor, rocking Gabriella back and forth as Dr. Tannon watched. "What's gonna happen?"

"Mr. Bolton is in surgery, and has been for the past hour, Ryan. It depends on whether he has enough will to make it through his surgery." Dr. Tannon explained, removing his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose momentarily before settling the glasses back on his nose. "After that, it's in God's hands whether or not he makes it through the night."

"Doctor Tannon?"

A passing woman caught the good Dr.'s arm and commanded his attention.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but they need you in room five-Jacobson's acting up again. They can't get him back into bed."

"Thanks, Jo." Dr. Tannon turned back to Ryan and Gabi, removing his glasses and shoving them into the pocket of his coat. "I'm really sorry, Ryan, but all I can tell you to do now is to pray."

And with a whirl of his lab coat, Dr. Tannon was gone, leaving the stricken duo on the floor in the emergency room of the hospital.

**Did You Know...that Lucas Grabeel's favorite number is 2,837,485,869,493?**

Four hours later and Troy was still in surgery and Gabi and Ryan were still on the floor of the ER. Gabi's sobs had subsided to the occasional sniffle, which made Ryan pull her tighter to him, so much so that she was almost in his lap.

Twenty minutes ago, it occurred to him that Sharpay was probably wondering where he was and he'd pulled out his cell phone to call her. After being yelled at for close to twenty minutes, Ryan was finally getting a word in conversation.

"No, Shar-no, I'm _fine_, Sharpay! No, I didn't burn mysel-don't you take that tone with me, Sharpay!"

Ryan listened to his sister rant for another minute or two before cutting her off in a harsh voice.

"Elizabeth Sharpay Evans, shut up for one god damned minute and let me explain things to you!"

He could almost hear Sharpay's jaw snap shut.

"Now, as I would have liked to have said twenty minutes ago, I am in the Er at the hospital. I am with Gabriella, who was in a car accident with Troy. Troy is in surgery but I would like you to contact the people that I tell you to and only them, you understand?"

Sharpay murmured her agreement.

"So help me Sharpay if you tell anyone else I will murder you, you understand? Good. Now I want you to call The Boltons-if the hospital had contacted them, they'd be here by now-, Chad Danforth and his mother, Taylor McKessie and her parents-tell her that one of them should stay at home with Lydia and Brandin if it's not too much trouble, other wise they can come-, find mom and dad and then get here as soon as you can."

Ryan snapped his phone closed and shoved it roughly back into his pocket, swiping his arm back up and around Gabi when his eyes landed on an arriving pair of feet. Ryan looked up into the morbid face of the Dr. Tannon, who just beckoned and turned away.

**Did You Know...Ryan wore a total of nine(count'em, NINE) different hats in HSM!**

Ryan followed Dr. Tannon down the hallway, half leaning on half-carrying Gabi along as Tannon led them out of the ICU and into CCU Room Seven. Or at least, _outside_ of Room Seven. Ryan stared through the glass at his friend in the sterile room and couldn't help but feel a part of himself die at the sight in front of him. Gabi could only grip the lip of the window with one hand and press the other against the glass.

Ryan watched as her breath formed tiny puffs of steam on the glass.

Troy was white as snow, skin almost translucent from loss of blood, wrapped in bandages almost from head to toe-ironic, how his trademark hair managed to remain untouched, even now-and was hooked up to-from what he could count-seven different machines. Heart monitor, respirator, saline drip...he couldn't figure out the last ones.

Ryan slowly approached the glass and mirrored Gabi's position, placing his own strong(though now he was in doubt) hand over hers on the sill.

"It's all my fault." Gabi murmured as the world around Ryan slowly began to shrink.


End file.
